Neskantaga First Nation Chief Wayne Moonias addresses those looking to develop the Ring of Fire
A community in northern Ontario continues to be plagued by what they are calling Canada’s longest boil water advisory.
Neskantaga First Nation will officially be under the advisory for 30 years on Saturday.
According to the community, their residents have had to rely on bottled or boiled water for everything.
“We should not be marking a 30th anniversary of this crisis,” said Chief Chris Moonias. “Our people have endured this long enough. Safe drinking water is a basic human right. It is unconscionable that we are still here today, 30 years later, facing this same struggle.”
Multiple solutions have been tested over the years, but nothing permanent has been established.
The community says that in 2016, then Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett visited the community and promised they would have safe drinking water by the spring of 2018.
“However, that deadline has come and gone without meaningful progress for Neskantaga and countless other communities still waiting for safe water,” said the community in a release.
The federal government has invested a total of $29.4 million to retrofit the community’s current water treatment plant, initially built in 1993 and expanded in 2017.
The community is calling on the next Prime Minister to take decisive steps to resolve this crisis.
In 2023, Bill C-61, the First Nations Clean Water Act was proposed to set national standards on water, but it did not pass.
“We were disappointed that Bill C-61 didn’t get passed due to partisan politics. This is about more than just water – it’s about dignity and basic human rights, it feels like Neskantaga First Nation doesn’t deserve clean drinking water,” added Chief Moonias. “We will not wait another 30 years. A solution is needed now.”
